


Non Dimenticarmi

by lannew713



Category: The Godfather (1972 1974 1990)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-19
Updated: 2019-02-13
Packaged: 2019-10-12 14:09:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17469059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lannew713/pseuds/lannew713
Summary: Marsia Selini Caruso is a young and ambitious young woman growing up in the dirty thirties and fightin' forties. Her father, Riccardo Caruso, is the boss of one of the smallest crime families in America. Against all customs and traditions, Marsia becomes consigliere of the Caruso Family. When she meets Michael Corleone, a man who just so happens to be involved in one of the most powerful organized crime groups, what will the future of the two families- and the two people- turn out to be?





	1. November 1945

She had been thinking about it. It had been weeks, months, maybe even a year since this idea first came into her head. Although, now that she had the chance to do something about it, she didn’t know how.

The former consigliere to the Caruso family was gunned down outside of Serri’s Laundromat last Monday. Giuseppe Marino, or Joey as his friends and family called him, was not only loyal to the bone but also a hell of a good attorney. Almost thirty-seven cases involving the Family and he won all but two. It was indeed a shame to see him go; Joey was like a brother to everyone he was on good terms with.

Marsia Selini Caruso, the daughter of Don Riccardo Caruso, was destined to become the next Family consigliere. Her father had considered it before but didn’t want her to get involved in the business. She felt differently about it, though. Marsia had watched from the sidelines as her father and brothers and other caporegimes made important deals and got in on the action. She thought it was thrilling. The chance of getting killed at any moment kept her on her toes and she liked that.

Time and time again, Marsia tried to prove her abilities to her father. At the dinner table she gave intimidating looks and sat in her chair with dignity and pride. He dismissed the nonsense because all he ever wanted for her was for her to get a good husband, have some children and live a life of piece. But that was not what Marsia sought.

She knew her father would end up making her consigliere. As much as he talked about keeping her away from all of it, he needed her and she knew that. She was smart. She was calm, cool and collected and knew her manners well. Challenging her just made her more capable of coming out victorious. She took negativity and transformed it into fuel for her fire of life. She was a woman who most girls wanted to grow up to be like.

As a young adult, Marsia was the friend that everyone turned to for advice. She was good at observing situations and figuring how to do things right.

This is how she had come up with it. The idea that had been harvested in her mind since the first war between the Families. While the Carusos were strong, they were dwindling. Only 2 full-blooded Carusos remained in the business; Riccardo, the boss, and Marsia’s brother, Gianluca. He preferred to be called Luca. He was the underboss and often seemed to be the brain of the group. When he and Joey put their brains together, they were powerful enough to take control of all the Families.

All the other members of the Family were either friends from childhood or had proven themselves (sometimes unknowingly) to Riccardo or Luca. Take Leonardo Puglisi, for example. Leo was Marsia’s partner in a project in elementary school. Riccardo allowed Leo to come over to their house to work together. They worked very well and seemed to get along just fine, so naturally, Riccardo took interest in him. Though young, Leo displayed honesty, smarts and perseverance. Riccardo knew that later, when Leo was older, he would be an excellent asset to the Family. He is now the best capo of not only the Caruso Family, but the whole state (according to his boss).

Then there was Ricco and Carl Pellegrini, the former being the eldest brother. They were both very good capos but Carl seemed to be more street-smart than his brother. Those two were both very good friends of Luca’s in high school, often partaking in shady activities together. Luca knew that Ricco and Carl would be loyal to the Family no matter what, so when he got older, he mentioned them to his father.

There were only two caporegimes in the Family, and each controlled a total of seven soldatos. Ricco oversaw four soldatos: Francesco “Frank” Marino, Lorenzo “Enzo” Bruno, Samuel “Sam” Romano, and Sebastiano “Tino” Greca. Carl had three: Calogero Russo, Vincenzo “Vinnie” Zampa, and Geno Sagese.

Considering the sizes of the other Families, this was extremely small. Marsia’s goal was to become consigliere of the Caruso Family and talk about merging with the Corleone Family. The two Families never had any disputes and always fought on the same side in wars. Don Vito Corleone had sometimes asked Don Riccardo for favors and vice versa. Never did either one refuse. For this reason, it would not be difficult to combine. If the Carusos were to stay independent, they would soon fall apart, and they were already vulnerable enough.

A few days after Joey’s death, Marsia’s father had come to her to ask about the position of consigliere. Of course, Riccardo was still unsure about it. He would hate to see his daughter die because of the business. He also wasn’t entirely sure of her capabilities, seems how she was not a man. If he were to dub her consigliere, she would be the first woman in the history of the mafia to have a position higher than an associate. In the end, Riccardo accepted and made Marsia consigliere. Now she just needed to mention her idea to her father.

She had been thinking about it. It had been weeks months, maybe even a year since this idea first came into her head. Although, now that she had the chance to do something about it, she didn’t know how. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marsia's father leaves her alone at the house for a while. As she mischievously searches through documents, she gets a call from Frank Marino and notices a vague and somewhat worrisome note on Riccardo's desk.

     “Please pay attention to the conversation, figlia.” Riccardo Caruso gave his daughter a stearn glare. “ Sì, papà,” replied a startled Marsia. She was unintentionally staring off into space as she thought about her proposal that would later be mentioned to her father. 

     The Don sat at his desk and discussed with Carl what he wanted to happen later tonight. There was to be a meeting between Riccardo and Philip Tattaglia, head of the Tattaglia crime family. He knew that there would be death tonight, and he figured it would not be one of his own men. Tattaglia would take with him a man who would pull the trigger on Riccardo. That’s why he was going to take Carl. He would make the first move. Tattaglia’s man wouldn’t even have his hand on his gun when Carl shot him, preferably leaving him dead.

     “So you’re gonna be here at the house alone. Don’t go digging around through my stuff, you understand me?” Marsia’s dad had his eye on her. 

     “Gotcha pop. You’ll come back and find this place just like you left it,” she replied, putting a charming smile on. There was no way that her curiosity wouldn’t get the best of her. The old saying goes, “Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.”

~

     Riccardo and Carl got in the black car and drove off with Enzo as the driver. They pulled out of the driveway and went down the dark street. It was a rainy night, so everything seemed more dreary than it actually was. But truthfully, Marsia loved rain. She particularly loved thunderstorms, watching the bright flashes of lighting zip across the sky, and following close behind, the loud and powerful thunder bursts. The reason Marsia loved them so she doesn’t know, but she always felt somehow connected to them.

     The doorway from which she saw the two off was empty. The hallway, the dining room, the living area and all the bedrooms were empty. There wasn’t a soul to interrupt Marsia’s adventures. 

     She started in her father’s office where all the important business took place. She’d spent hours in there as a kid when Riccardo didn’t have anything going on. And when he had things to do, she put her ear up to his door and listened in.

     From this, Marsia learned a majority of what she knew now. What to do in certain situations and how to handle them. Her father also taught her important traits, like honesty, open mindedness, and reliability. He also said to have patience, but not to be overly tolerant. 

     All these things Marsia found value in, but she thought the most important thing he taught her was how to be so deceitful. “A man can get anywhere in life as long as he has deceit,” he repeated that to her almost daily when she was a child. She grew up and figured out he was right. All over the country, and world for that matter, men of no talent were put on pedestals and treated as kings just because they knew how to work their way up. Even in the darkest of times, they kept their fears and emotions hidden as to not show any signs of weakness. Who is a man if he has not deceit?

     Marsia twisted the knob of the dark oak door and stepped inside the office. An antique mirror leaned up against one of the walls. It was her father’s grandpa’s mirror and was handmade in Sicily all those years ago. After Riccardo’s father Sergio passed, it was handed down to him and he brought it with him as he came to America.

     In its reflection, she saw a woman, average height, average weight, average body. She only thought of herself as average. But other men, especially Vinnie Zampa, one of Carl’s soldatos, thought she was beyond magnificent. Any time he was around Marsia, all he did was show off. She thought it was funny, watching him try so desperately to be noticed. But she wasn’t sure of Vinnie’s liking for her. They barely ever talked, so they barely knew each other. She figured he liked her simply because of her looks. Still, it felt wonderful to be desired.

     In the corner of the room sat Riccardo’s desk. Marsia drifted over to it and the first thing she noticed was a manilla folder comprising a large stack of papers. She opened it and found them to be letters written to her father from Tom Hagen, the Corleone Family’s consigliere. She skimmed over his writing, sharp and quick, as she noted. Tom mentioned things like deals, shipments and… narcotics. Drugs were dangerous things to get involved in, Marsia decided some time ago. Maybe they would be better than gambling or alcohol later on, but not now. 

     Marsia closed the folder and walked over to the window. It was still raining outside and it was coming down hard. The droplets beat up against the window like drums. There was no thunder or lightning, just a shower. 

     Just as she was getting lost in thought, the phone rang. She walked back over to the desk and was about to answer it, but she hesitated. “What if it’s my dad, testing if I’d pick up the phone? Would he want me to do that? He said I was going to be in the house alone, but that didn’t necessarily mean I was in charge,” she asked herself. Then Marsia realised that, after all, she is the consigliere, so she does have a reason to answer. Her hand gripped the black phone and picked it up.

     “Yeah,” she answered. 

     “Who’s this?” It was a man’s voice, one that Marsia recognized, but she couldn’t put a finger on it. She was pretty sure he was one of theirs.

     “Tell me who you are first. And yes, I have a reason to be here,” she was certain that he’d be curious as to why a woman was answering Don Riccardo’s phone.

     “It’s Frank. Marino.” Now she knew who it was. Marsia had met Frank quite a few times, and he came over for dinner almost once a week.

     “This is Marsia, Riccardo’s daughter. Can I help you? Leave a message?”

     “What business do you have taking the boss’s calls?”

     “I’m the consigliere, didn’t you know? I have the right to answer the phone.” Frank paused as he heard this news. Now that he thought about it, the boss had told him about that last month. He didn’t like the idea of a woman being so far up in ranking, but he trusted Riccardo, so he trusted what he did. That meant he also trusted Marsia.

     “Yeah, yeah, I knew that. Just surprised me a bit, you know?”

     Marsia rolled her eyes. “I understand what you mean. Now, what were you calling here for?”

     “I’m outside of Pucelli’s, where your father and Tattaglia are meeting. I thought Carl was supposed to stay at the house,” Frank answered.

     “Not what papà said to me. He figured Tattaglia would have a guy there so he brought one of his own.”

     “Seems he was right. Carl and the other fella have been giving dirty looks to each other the whole time.”

     “So why are you at Pucelli’s?” Marsia wondered. Her father didn’t mention anything about having Frank out there too.

     “Ricco told me to keep an eye on the Don. Guess he thought Riccardo might need some backup, but I’m pretty sure he’s got it covered.”

     “Okay, that’s good,” she saw a note from the corner of her eye on the desk. It mentioned something about talking with Tom Hagen about Marsia, but it didn’t say what exactly they would talk about. “Hey, um, Frank?”

     “Yeah?”

     “Do you happen to know anything about how my father thinks of me?” There was a long pause over the phone.

     “I mean, I don’t really talk to your father, but he never says anything bad about you. Any time I see him he’s always caught up in his work so very few words are ever passed. Why?” 

     “No reason. Just curious,” Marsia lied. She wanted to know why those two needed to talk about her. Had she done something wrong? She didn’t think so. “Alright, well thanks for calling. Keep an eye on my father and Carl.”

     “Will do,” answered Frank as he hung up the phone. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ack sorry this update was so late! I've just been very busy with big end of term tests and family. Updates will try to be more regular, like every other Friday! thanks for stickin with me this far, it means a whole lot!!!

**Author's Note:**

> So this is something new! If you've read my previous works, you'd know that I'm not exactly the best at keeping stories going. But I'm thinking this time'll be different (hopefully!).
> 
> The chapter I've just written seems to be pretty short. What do you think? How long is the ideal chapter in your opinion?
> 
> This style of writing is sort of different than how I usually do. Let me know how you feel about it. Also, tell me about any changes or revisions you'd like to see and things you want in the future!
> 
> Updates to this work are scheduled for every other Friday. 
> 
> Marsia is on tumblr! You can interact with her, either as just yourself or another character! Find her at http://marsia-caruso.com
> 
> As always, thanks for checking out my work! Spread it around if you'd like! :)


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